Play for Today is a British television strand, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were (with a few exceptions noted below) between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including Rumpole of the Bailey, subsequently became television series in their own right.
In 2025, Channel 5 announced they would revive the series, which began broadcasting on 13 November 2025.
History
The strand was a successor to The Wednesday Play, the 1960s anthology series, the title being changed when the day of transmission moved to Thursday to make way for a sport programme. Some works, screened in anthology series on BBC2, like Willy Russell's Our Day Out (1977), were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of The Wednesday Play, Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, transferred to the new series. Shubik continued with the series until 1973<!-- Shubik produced an additional 3 productions screened in 1974-75. --> while MacDonald remained with the series until 1977 when he was promoted. Later producers included Kenith Trodd (1973–1982), David Rose (1972–1980), Innes Lloyd (1975–1982), Margaret Matheson (1977–1979), Richard Eyre (1978–1980), and Pharic MacLaren (1974–1982).
Plays covered all genres. In its time, Play for Today featured contemporary social realist dramas, historical pieces, fantasies, biopics and occasionally science-fiction (The Flipside of Dominick Hide, 1980). Most pieces were written directly for television, but there were also occasional adaptations from other narrative forms, such as novels and stage plays.
Writers who contributed plays to the series included Ian McEwan, John Osborne, Dennis Potter, Stephen Poliakoff, Sir David Hare, Willy Russell, Alan Bleasdale, Arthur Hopcraft, Alan Plater, Graham Reid, David Storey, Andrew Davies, Rhys Adrian and John Hopkins.
Several prominent directors also featured, including Stephen Frears, Alan Clarke, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Roland Joffé, Ken Loach, Lindsay Anderson, and Mike Leigh. Some of the best-remembered plays broadcast in the strand include Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971), The Foxtrot (1971), Home (1972), The Fishing Party (1972), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976), The Other Woman (1976), Abigail's Party (1977), Blue Remembered Hills (1979) and Just a Boys' Game (1979). Certain other plays, including Penda's Fen (1974) and Nuts in May (1976), were commissioned by David Rose of the BBC's English Regions Drama department based in Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham.
Some installments in the series were spun off into full-blown series, including Rumpole of the Bailey, which was produced as a one-off in the Play for Today strand in 1975 and three years later became a series for Thames Television, again with Leo McKern. Alan Bleasdale's The Black Stuff, was a single play broadcast on BBC2 in January 1980, which was developed into Boys from the Blackstuff. It was never part of the Play For Today strand, although it was repeated on BBC1 later that year as a single play.
Other offshoots were Gangsters, Headmaster, and a single series of science fiction-based plays styled as Play for Tomorrow. Towards the end of the run, three plays set in Northern Ireland were written by Graham Reid. Known as the Billy Plays, they starred Kenneth Branagh as Billy Martin in his first acting role following his graduation from RADA.
There were also some groups of plays transmitted that – for various reasons – did not go out under the Play for Today banner, but which were funded from the same department, used much the same production team and are generally regarded in episode guides and analysis as being part of the Play for Today canon.
Several plays were BAFTA award winners. John Le Mesurier and Patricia Hayes were named Best Actor and Actress, respectively, for their roles in the 1971 series Traitor and Edna, The Inebriate Woman, the latter also being named Best Drama Production. Celia Johnson was named Best Actress for Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, broadcast in 1973. Stocker's Copper (1972), Kisses at Fifty (1973), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976), Spend, Spend, Spend! (1977), Licking Hitler (1978), and Blue Remembered Hills (1979) were all named Best Single Play by BAFTA.
Videotapes of thirty-seven of the episodes produced between 1970 and 1975 were wiped after transmission, and no copies of many of them are known to exist.
Two plays were controversially pulled from transmission shortly before broadcast due to concerns over their content: these were Dennis Potter's Brimstone & Treacle in 1976 and Roy Minton's Scum the following year. In the case of Brimstone & Treacle it was due to concerns over the play's depiction of a disabled woman's rape at the hands of a man who may possibly have been the devil, and with Scum the worry was its supposed sensationalism of life in a borstal. Scum and Brimstone & Treacle were eventually transmitted, although in the meantime both had circumvented their withdrawal by being re-made as cinema films. Another play Pillion recorded in 1979 was never broadcast.
One play, The Other Woman, generated some mild controversy for its "graphic depiction" of lesbianism, and for the onscreen kiss between Jane Lapotaire and Lynne Frederick.
Demise and legacy
After fourteen series and numerous repeats of individual productions, the programme officially ended in August 1984, although two series of single dramas without Play for Today billing were broadcast on BBC1 in a similar time slot from July to December 1983 and from November 1984 to February 1985. Thereafter the strand of single dramas became Screen Two on BBC2 from January 1985, and later also Screen One on BBC1 from September 1989. The general trend in 1980s television production was away from one-off plays and towards a greater concentration on series and serials. When one-offs were produced, such as Film on Four on Channel 4, they tended to be made with a cinematic approach rather than betraying television drama's roots in the theatre that Play for Today and earlier series on both the BBC and ITV had often demonstrated.
Nonetheless, the series is generally remembered as a benchmark of high-quality British television drama, and has become a byword for what many continue to argue was a golden age of British television. In 2000, the British Film Institute produced a poll of industry professionals to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, and five of the programmes included in the final tally were from Play for Today.
A new programme publicised as a return of Play for Today, but under the working title of The Evening Play, was announced at the beginning of March 2006, but nothing has been heard from it since. Kevin Spacey, film star and director of the Old Vic, in March 2008 told BBC News that he would like to see the return of the show,
but the journalists Michael Gove and Mark Lawson expressed disagreement, Gove (by then a Conservative MP) describing them as "exercises in viewer patronisation". Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph wrote in support of Spacey, saying "the British loved Play for Today once, and would do so again. A good piece of drama looks at the human condition, and tells us something we should know about ourselves."
A book detailing the origins of the series, Play for Today: The First Year by Simon Farquhar, was published in 2021.
Productions
The following list was sourced according to the BBC Genome archive of Radio Times magazines. Titles that carried the tag Play For Today on the BBC listings for their first or subsequent transmission are included, along with some repeats such as the repeat of the Days of Hope quartet, where the initial broadcast was not branded Play for Today, but the repeat was. Repeats of the individual productions are excluded. All episodes were broadcast on BBC1, except for the delayed broadcast of Scum in 1991 which was broadcast on BBC2.
Some early episodes are missing or no longer exist in colour.
<!-- If a title is updated, please update the id to match the title as displayed (including case). -->
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Original air date
! Title
! Authors
! Producer
! Director
! Lead actor(s)
! Home media
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 1
|- id="The Long Distance Piano Player"
|
| data-sort-value="Long Distance Piano Player, The"|The Long Distance Piano Player
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Repeated 13 April 1972. 16 mm b&w print
|- id="The Right Prospectus"
|
| data-sort-value="Right Prospectus, The"|The Right Prospectus
|
|
| , Elvi Hale
|
| Repeated 16 December 1971
|- id="The Lie"
|
| data-sort-value="Lie, The"|The Lie
| data-sort-value="Bergman, Ingmar"|Ingmar Bergman & Paul Britten Austin
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set
| Written by Ingmar Bergman, translated by Paul Britten Austin. A production for The Largest Theatre in the World project of the EBU. Winner of the SFTA award for best drama production of 1970. Repeated on BBC2 31 March 1971, and on BBC1 16 March 1972.
|- id="Angels Are So Few"
|
| Angels Are So Few
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Write-Off"
|
| data-sort-value="Write-Off, The"|The Write-Off
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
| Canadian production. Missing.
|- id="I Can't See My Little Willie"
|
| I Can't See My Little Willie
|
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|
| Repeated 18 May 1972. Missing except for domestic audio recording.
|- id="A Distant Thunder"
|
| data-sort-value="Distant Thunder, A"|A Distant Thunder
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Hearts and Flowers"
|
| Hearts and Flowers
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 9 March 1972. 16 mm b&w print
|- id="Robin Redbreast"
|
| Robin Redbreast
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|DVD release by the BFI
| Due to a power cut, the ending of this episode was blacked out in many areas, necessitating a repeat of the full episode on 25 February 1971. 16mm b&w print
|- id="The Hallelujah Handshake"
|
| data-sort-value="Hallelujah Handshake, The"|The Hallelujah Handshake
|
|
|
|Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set
| Repeated 23 December 1971.
|- id="Alma Mater"
|
| Alma Mater
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 4 May 1972. Missing.
|- id="Circle Line"
|
| Circle Line
|
| rowspan="4" |
|
|
|
| The Winner of the BBCtv Student Play Competition. Missing.
|- id="Hell's Angel"
|
| Hell's Angel
|
|
|
|
| David Agnew is a BBC in-house pen name typically used when multiple writers contributed to a script. Anthony Read was the author commissioned to write the play. Repeated 25 May 1972. Missing.
|- id="The Piano"
|
| data-sort-value="Piano, The"|The Piano
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 10 August 1972.
|- id="Billy's Last Stand"
|
| Billy's Last Stand
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 20 April 1972. Missing.
|- id="The Rainbirds"
|
| data-sort-value="Rainbirds, The"|The Rainbirds
|
|
|
|
|
| A production for The Largest Theatre in the World project of the EBU.
|- id="Reddick"
|
| Reddick
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
| Canadian production. Missing.
|- id="No Trams to Lime Street"
|
| No Trams to Lime Street
| data-sort-value="Owen, Alun"|Alun Owen (Book), Marty Wilde & Ronnie Scott (Music & Lyrics)
|
|
|
|
| Musical. First shown under The Wednesday Play, 18 March 1970.
|- id="Mad Jack"
|
| Mad Jack
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown under The Wednesday Play, 4 February 1970.
|
|- id="The Man in the Sidecar"
|
| data-sort-value="Man in the Sidecar, The"|The Man in the Sidecar
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 24 August 1972. Missing.
|- id="Everybody Say Cheese"
|
| Everybody Say Cheese
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="The Cellar and the Almond Tree"
|
| data-sort-value="Cellar And The Almond Tree, The"|The Cellar and the Almond Tree
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown under The Wednesday Play, 4 March 1970. Repeated on BBC2 on 13 December 1980 and on BBC1 on 14 July 1988.
|- id="The Italian Table"
|
| data-sort-value="Italian Table, The"|The Italian Table
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown under The Wednesday Play, 18 February 1970.
|- id="There Is Also Tomorrow"
|
| There Is Also Tomorrow
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown under The Wednesday Play, 19 November 1969.
|- id="Chariot of Fire"
|
| Chariot of Fire
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown under The Wednesday Play, 20 May 1970.
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 2
|- id="Traitor"
|
| Traitor
|
|
|
|
|
| BAFTA Best Actor (John Le Mesurier). Repeated on BBC2 on 27 February 1973 and on BBC1 on 21 July 1987.
|- id="Edna, the Inebriate Woman"
|
| Edna, the Inebriate Woman
|
|
|
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set
| BAFTA Best Actress (Patricia Hayes) & Drama Production. Repeated 2 Mar 1972, on BBC2 on 20 August 1977 and on BBC2 on 3 November 1986.
|- id="Evelyn"
|
| Evelyn
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 27 July 1972 and on BBC2 20 February 1973.
|- id="O Fat White Woman"
|
| O Fat White Woman
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 16 July 1973.
|- id="Thank You Very Much"
|
| Thank You Very Much
|
|
|
|
|
| Duration 40 minutes. 16 mm b&w print.
|- id="Michael Regan"
|
| Michael Regan
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 17 August 1972.
|- id="Skin Deep"
|
| Skin Deep
| data-sort-value="O'Neill, Michael"|Michael O'Neill & Jeremy Seabrook
|
|
|
|
| rowspan="2" | Missing.
|- id="Pal"
|
| Pal
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
|- id="The Pigeon Fancier"
|
| data-sort-value="Pigeon Fancier, The"|The Pigeon Fancier
|
|
|
|
| 16mm b&w print
|- id="Home"
|
| Home
|
|
|
|
|DVD release by Metrodome
| A NET/CBC production. Adapted by the playwright from his original stage play. Repeated on BBC2 6 February 1973.
|- id="Still Waters"
|
| Still Waters
|
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|
| Repeated 3 August 1972.
|- id="Stocker's Copper"
|
| Stocker's Copper
|
|
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set
| BAFTA Best Single Play. Writers' Guild Awards 1972: Best British Original Teleplay. Repeated 18 December 1972 and 31 August 1982. Shown in the USA on 23 July 1977 as a Piccadilly Circus episode.
|- id="The House On Highbury Hill"
|
| data-sort-value="House On Highbury Hill, The"|The House On Highbury Hill
|
|
|
|
| rowspan="2" | Missing.
|- id="In the Beautiful Caribbean"
|
| In the Beautiful Caribbean
|
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|
|- id="Ackerman, Dougall and Harker"
|
| Ackerman, Dougall and Harker
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 6 August 1973.
|- id="The Villa Maroc"
|
| data-sort-value="Villa Maroc, The"|The Villa Maroc
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 30 July 1973.
|- id="Cows"
|
| Cows
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="The Fishing Party"
|
| data-sort-value="Fishing Party, The"|The Fishing Party
|
|
|
|
|DVD release by Simply Media
| From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 9 July 1973 and on BBC2 4 August 1993.
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 3
|- id="The Reporters"
|
| data-sort-value="Reporters, The"|The Reporters
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 3 January 1974 and 18 April 1974.
|- id="A Life Is For Ever"
|
| data-sort-value="Life Is For Ever, A"|A Life Is For Ever
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 11 July 1974. Missing.
|- id="Carson Country"
|
| Carson Country
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
|
|- id="Man Friday"
|
| Man Friday
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Triple Exposure"
|
| Triple Exposure
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Better Than the Movies"
|
| Better Than the Movies
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="The General's Day"
|
| data-sort-value="General's Day, The"|The General's Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Bankrupt"
|
| data-sort-value="Bankrupt, The"|The Bankrupt
|
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|
|
|- id="Just Your Luck"
|
| Just Your Luck
|
|
|
|BBC DVD
| Repeated 18 July 1974.
|- id="The Bouncing Boy"
|
| data-sort-value="Bouncing Boy, The"|The Bouncing Boy
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 25 April 1974.
|- id="Shakespeare or Bust"
|
| Shakespeare or Bust
|
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set
| Repeated 30 May 1974, on BBC2 18 August 1993, and on BBC4 14 July 2008 and 7 December 2021.
|- id="Man Above Men"
|
| Man Above Men
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Speech Day"
|
| Speech Day
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 10 January 1974.
|- id="Steps Back"
|
| Steps Back
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Three's One"
|
| Three's One
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| rowspan="2" | Missing.
|- id="Edward G - Like the Filmstar"
|
| Edward G - Like the Filmstar
|
|
|
|
|- id="Blooming Youth"
|
| Blooming Youth
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 16 May 1974.
|- id="The Stretch"
|
| data-sort-value="Stretch, The"|The Stretch
|
|
|
|
|
| rowspan="2" | Missing.
|- id="Making the Play"
|
| Making the Play
| data-sort-value="Brady, Terence"|Terence Brady & Charlotte Bingham
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 4
|- id="Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont"
|
| Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
|
|
|
|
|
| Adapted from the novel. BAFTA Best Actress (Celia Johnson). Repeated 20 March 1975.
|- id="Her Majesty's Pleasure"
|
| Her Majesty's Pleasure
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
|
|- id="Jack Point"
|
| Jack Point
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 3 April 1975.
|- id="The Emergency Channel"
|
| data-sort-value="Emergency Channel, The"|The Emergency Channel
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Mummy and Daddy"
|
| Mummy and Daddy
|
|
|
|
|
| Incomplete.
|- id="Private Practice"
|
| Private Practice
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Shutdown"
|
| Shutdown
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Repeated 19 June 1975.
|- id="Baby Blues"
|
| Baby Blues
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Jingle Bells"
|
| Jingle Bells
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="The Lonely Man's Lover"
|
| data-sort-value="Lonely Man's Lover, The"|The Lonely Man's Lover
|
|
|
|
|
| From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 6 February 1975.
|- id="All Good Men"
|
| All Good Men
|
| rowspan="5" |
|
|
|
|
|- id="Joe's Ark"
|
| Joe's Ark
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 19 December 1974, 7 July 1987, and on BBC4 30 January 2005.
|- id="Hot Fat"
|
| Hot Fat
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Easy Go"
|
| Easy Go
| data-sort-value="Clark, Brian"|Brian Clark & Ronnie King, Cliff Norris, Peter French, Paul Stuart, Tony Ali, Paul Bishop, Deirdre Walsh, Janice Reeves
|
|
|
| Postponed from 7 February 1974.
|- id="Headmaster"
|
| Headmaster
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 12 June 1975. Spun off as a series in 1977.
|- id="Penda's Fen"
|
| Penda's Fen
|
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI; also included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set
| Adapted from the stage play. Repeated 17 April 1975.
|- id="Schmoedipus"
|
| Schmoedipus
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 10 April 1975.
|- id="The Childhood Friend"
|
| data-sort-value="Childhood Friend, The"|The Childhood Friend
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="A Follower for Emily"
|
| data-sort-value="Follower For Emily, A"|A Follower for Emily
|
|
|
|
|Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set
| From BBC Birmingham. Duration 110 minutes. Repeated 2 September 1976. Spun off as a series.
|- id="The After Dinner Game"
|
| data-sort-value="After Dinner Game, The"|The After Dinner Game
| data-sort-value="Bradbury, Malcolm"|Malcolm Bradbury & Christopher Bigsby
| rowspan="3" |
|
|
|
| rowspan="3" | From BBC Birmingham
|- id="Breath"
|
| Breath
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Death of a Young Young Man"
|
| data-sort-value="Death Of A Young Young Man, The"|The Death of a Young Young Man
|
|
|
|
|- id="Sunset Across the Bay"
|
| Sunset Across the Bay
|
|
|
| , Harry Markham
|Included on the Alan Bennett at the BBC DVD boxset
| Repeated 19 August 1976 and on BBC2 26 July 1992.
|- id="Funny Farm"
|
| Funny Farm
|
|
|
|
|Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set
| Winner of the 1975 Italia Prize for Television Drama Programmes. Repeated on BBC2 7 November 1975, on BBC1 26 August 1976 and on BBC2 24 August 1977.
|- id="Child of Hope"
|
| Child of Hope
|
|
|
|
| Based on Joel Carlson's book No Neutral Ground.
|- id="The Saturday Party"
|
| data-sort-value="Saturday Party, The"|The Saturday Party
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 25 April 1977, the day before its sequel, The Country Party.
|- id="Wednesday Love"
|
| Wednesday Love
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Dandelion Clock"
|
| data-sort-value="Dandelion Clock, The"|The Dandelion Clock
|
|
|
|
|
| Missing.
|- id="Brassneck"
|
| Brassneck
| data-sort-value="Brenton, Howard"|Howard Brenton & David Hare
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Adapted from the play.
|- id="The Floater"
|
| data-sort-value="Floater, The"|The Floater
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|5 June 1975
|By Common Consent
|Paul Thompson
|Kenith Trodd
|Ron Daniels, John Robins
|Michelle Abrahams
|
|Adapted from the play. Not billed as a Play for Today in the Radio Times.
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 6
|- id="Plaintiffs and Defendants"
|
| Plaintiffs and Defendants
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" |
|
| Shown in the USA on 16 July 1977 as a Piccadilly Circus episode.
|- id="Two Sundays"
|
| Two Sundays
|
| Repeated 1 Sep 1977.
|- id="Moss"
|
| Moss
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="84, Charing Cross Road"
|
| 84, Charing Cross Road
| data-sort-value="Hanff, Helene"|Helene Hanff & Hugh Whitemore
|
|
|
|
| Adapted from the book. Repeated 21 July 1977.
|- id="Keep an Eye on Albert"
|
| Keep an Eye on Albert
|
| rowspan="4" |
|
|
|
|
|- id="Children of the Sun"
|
| Children of the Sun
| data-sort-value="O'Neill, Michael"|Michael O'Neill & Jeremy Seabrook
|
|
|
| Missing. Final missing episode.
|- id="After the Solo"
|
| After the Solo
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Through the Night"
|
| Through the Night
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 4 August 1977.
|- id="A Passage to England"
|
| data-sort-value="Passage to England, A"|A Passage to England
|
|
|
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set
| Repeated 16 May 1993, and on BBC4 18 and 19 January 2009. Spun off as a long-running series on ITV (Thames Television).
|- id="The Other Woman"
|
| data-sort-value="Other Woman, The"|The Other Woman
|
| rowspan="4" |
|
|
|
| From BBC Birmingham
|- id="Nuts in May"
|
| Nuts in May
|
|
|
|Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set
| BAFTA Best Single Play and Best Writer awards, 1976. Repeated 6 May 1977, 28 February 1978 and 23 June 1997, and on BBC4 18 July 2004 and 17 March 2005.
|- id="Bet Your Life"
|
| Bet Your Life
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Rocky Marciano Is Dead"
|
| Rocky Marciano Is Dead
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Elephants' Graveyard"
|
| data-sort-value="Elephants' Graveyard, The"|The Elephants' Graveyard
|
|
| , Jon Morrison
|Included on the Play for Today Vol .2 BFI Blu-ray set also included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set
| From BBC Birmingham. Adapted from the novel.
|- id="The Spongers"
|
| data-sort-value="Spongers, The"|The Spongers
|
|
|
|
|Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set
| First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 28 December 1977. Repeated on BBC2 26 December 1979, and in 3 instalments under Scene, 14, 21 & 28 January 1994, and on BBC4 22 August 2008.
|- id="The After Dinner Joke"
|
| data-sort-value="After Dinner Joke, The"|The After Dinner Joke
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Days Of Hope: 1916 - Joining Up"
|
| Days of Hope: 1916 - Joining Up
|rowspan=4|
| rowspan="6" |
| rowspan="6" |
|rowspan=4|
| rowspan="4" |Included on the Ken Loach at the BBC DVD boxset
|
|- id="Donal and Sally"
|
| Donal and Sally
|
|
|
| , Sylvestra Le Touzel
|
| Best Direction, 1979 Prague International Television Festival. Repeated 8 July 1980.
|- id="Sorry…"
|
| Sorry…
| data-sort-value="Havel, Václav"|Václav Havel & Vera Blackwell
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Adapted and translated by Vera Blackwell from the Vaněk plays Private View (a.k.a. Unveiling) and Audience. Repeated 6 January 1990.
|- id="Butterflies Don't Count"
|
| Butterflies Don't Count
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Soldiers Talking, Cleanly"
|
| Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="One Bummer News Day"
|
| One Bummer News Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Out Of Town Boys"
|
| data-sort-value="Out of Town Boys, The"|The Out of Town Boys
|
|
|
|
|
| rowspan="3" | From BBC Birmingham
|- id="Vampires"
|
| Vampires
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Chief Mourner"
|
| data-sort-value="Chief Mourner, The"|The Chief Mourner
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|- id="Waterloo Sunset"
|
| Waterloo Sunset
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
| Repeated 5 August 1980.
|- id="Blue Remembered Hills"
|
| Blue Remembered Hills
|
|
|
|
|Included on the Helen Mirren at the BBC DVD set
| Adapted from the play.
|- id="Katie: The Year of a Child"
|
| Katie: The Year of a Child
| data-sort-value="Cullen, Ian"|Ian Cullen & John Norton
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Network"
|
| data-sort-value="Network, The"|The Network
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Black Stuff"
|
|The Black Stuff
|
|
|
|
|Included on the Boys from the Black Stuff DVD set
|The Black Stuff was commissioned and produced for the Play for Today strand in 1978, but not broadcast until 1980, as a one-off play on BBC2 (not billed as a Play for Today). Repeated on BBC1 30 July 1981, and on BBC4 19 September 2010 and 17 November 2020.
|- id="Chance of a Lifetime"
|
| Chance of a Lifetime
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 3 September 1981.
|- id="Keep Smiling"
|
| Keep Smiling
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| rowspan="3" | From BBC Birmingham
|- id="Dreams of Leaving"
|
| Dreams of Leaving
|
|
|
|
|- id="Thicker Than Water"
|
| Thicker Than Water
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Murder Rap"
|
| Murder Rap
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 13 August 1981.
|- id="Instant Enlightenment Including VAT"
|
| Instant Enlightenment Including VAT
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Postponed from 22 November 1979.
|- id="No Defence"
|
| No Defence
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="That Crazy Woman"
|
| That Crazy Woman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="A Gift from Nessus"
|
| data-sort-value="Gift From Nessus, A"|A Gift from Nessus
| data-sort-value="McIlvanney, William"|William McIlvanney & Bill Craig
|
|
|
|
| Novel by William McIlvanney, dramatised by Bill Craig; from BBC Scotland.
|- id="Kate, the Good Neighbour"
|
| Kate, the Good Neighbour
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 27 August 1981.
|- id="Buses"
|
| Buses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Shadows on Our Skin"
|
| Shadows on Our Skin
| data-sort-value="Johnston, Jennifer"|Jennifer Johnston & Derek Mahon
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| Screenplay by Derek Mahon from the novel by Jennifer Johnston. Repeated 20 August 1981.
|- id="Ladies"
|
| Ladies
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Vanishing Army"
|
| data-sort-value="Vanishing Army, The"|The Vanishing Army
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2 29 November 1978, and repeated on BBC1 28 August 1979.
|- id="Not for the Likes of Us"
|
| Not for the Likes of Us
|
|
|
|
|
| From BBC Bristol
|- id="The Executioner"
|
| data-sort-value="Executioner, The"|The Executioner
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Imitation Game"
|
| data-sort-value="Imitation Game, The"|The Imitation Game
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|DVD release by Simply Media
| Repeated on BBC2 8 September 1981 and 12 May 1993.
|- id="A Walk In The Forest"
|
| data-sort-value="Walk in the Forest, A"|A Walk in the Forest
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated on BBC2 6 July 1980.
|- id="On Giant's Shoulders"
|
| On Giant's Shoulders
| data-sort-value="Wallace, Marjorie"|Marjorie Wallace, Michael Robson, William Humble & Anthony Simmons
|
|
|
|
| Based on the book by Marjorie Wallace and Michael Robson, dramatised by William Humble and Anthony Simmons. First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 28 March 1979. Repeated on BBC2 4 November 1986.
|- id="Fearless Frank"
|
| Fearless Frank
|
|
|
|
|
| First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 4 October 1978.
|-
! colspan="8" data-sort-value="ZZ" |Series 11
|- id="Pasmore"
|
| Pasmore
| data-sort-value="Eyre, Richard"|Richard Eyre & David Storey
|
|
|
|
| Screenplay by Richard Eyre from the novel by David Storey. Repeated 10 August 1982.
|- id="C2H5OH"
|
| C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>OH<!-- this is how it appears on screen -->
|
|
|
|
|
| Title is the chemical formula for ethanol (alcohol).
|- id="The Adventures of Frank: 1 - Everybody's Fiddling Something"
|
| data-sort-value="Adventures of Frank: 1 – Everybody's Fiddling Something, The"|The Adventures of Frank: 1 – Everybody's Fiddling Something
|rowspan=2 data-sort-value="McGrath, John"|John McGrath, Mark Brown, Mike O'Neill & Si Cowe
|rowspan=2|
|rowspan=2|
|rowspan=2|
|
|rowspan=2|A musical play in two parts by John McGrath, with music by Mark Brown and additional songs by Mike O'Neill and Si Cowe.
|- id="The Adventures of Frank: 2 - Seeds of Ice"
|
| data-sort-value="Adventures of Frank: 2 – Seeds of Ice, The"|The Adventures of Frank: 2 – Seeds of Ice
|
|- id="Minor Complications"
|
| Minor Complications
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 3 August 1982.
|- id="Jude"
|
| Jude
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Flipside of Dominick Hide"
|
| data-sort-value="Flipside of Dominick Hide, The"|The Flipside of Dominick Hide
| data-sort-value="Paul, Jeremy"|Jeremy Paul & Alan Gibson
|
|
|
|DVD release by BBC
| Repeated 7 December 1982, and on BBC4 26 February 2006, 20 May 2006 and 26 July 2008.
|- id="Name for the Day"
|
| Name for the Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Jessie"
|
| Jessie
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated 11 December 1982.
|- id="Beyond the Pale"
|
| Beyond the Pale
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Muscle Market"
|
| data-sort-value="Muscle Market, The"|The Muscle Market
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|
| rowspan="2" | From BBC Birmingham
|- id="A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado"
|
| data-sort-value="Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado, A"|A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado
|
|
|
|
|- id="The Cause"
|
| data-sort-value="Cause, The"|The Cause
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Beloved Enemy"
|
| Beloved Enemy
| data-sort-value="Leland, David"|David Leland & Charles Levinson
|
|
|
|Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set
| Repeated on BBC4 25 Jan 2003.
|- id="3 Minute Heroes"
|
| 3 Minute Heroes
|
|
|
|
|
| From BBC Birmingham
|- id="The Remainder Man"
|
| data-sort-value="Remainder Man, The"|The Remainder Man
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Intensive Care"
|
| Intensive Care
|
|
|
|
|
| Repeated on BBC2 9 August 1992.
|- id="A Mother Like Him"
|
| data-sort-value="Mother Like Him, A"|A Mother Like Him
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="John David"
|
| John David
|
|
|
|
|
|
|- id="Aliens"
|
| Aliens
|
|
|
|
|
| From BBC Scotland
|- id="Another Flip for Dominick"
|
| Another Flip for Dominick
| data-sort-value="Paul, Jeremy"|Jeremy Paul & Alan Gibson
|
|
|
|BBC DVD release
| Postponed from 6 April 1976. Repeated on BBC2 5 September 1998 and on BBC4 2 January 2005.
|- id="Scum"
|
| Scum
|
|
|
|
|Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set